Rita

Quote of the Day: “Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.” Milton Friedman

Today is International Women’s Day 2023 and the campaign theme this year is #EmbraceEquity This means that “…equal opportunities aren’t enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.” https://www.internationalwomensday.com/2023Theme In other words: SEXIST BEHAVIOUR

I was fully expecting to see a bunch of this nonsense in TheRecord today, but thankfully it was missing. None of the “Oh-Woe-Is-Me” articles and op-eds at all. What a pleasant surprise.

Quote of the Day: “Governments never learn. Only people learn.” Milton Friedman

Liz Monteiro tells us of a report that suggests that local Indigenous groups want their own cultural space and they need both indoors and outdoors areas. Great. Why don’t they buy some land and setup their community groups. Oh. Wait. It seems that the “report” was produced by Waterloo Region’s Truth and Reconciliation director Paula Whitlow. This means that they won’t be buying land – it means that my tax dollars will. Nice. This is how the Region of Waterloo becomes Toronto.

The Editorial today is titled: “Prescriptions for an ailing health system” but it just doesn’t delivery any real or new solutions except to say: “It would also surely help to keep ERs and family doctors’ offices open if the qualification process for foreign-trained doctors was improved and expedited.” But we’ve known that for 20 years or more. The Editorial ends with this line: “It’s essential, in such extraordinarily trying circumstances, for Ontarians to insist on improvements, acknowledge there is no magic cure and be aware that the remedies will involve a menu of solutions, not just the addition of private-sector clinics.” Too bad that they didn’t state the obvious – the system is bankrupt.

Kim Forgues is the Vice-President of Human Resources at Wolseley Canada and has been in that role since 2018. I’m sure she has a nice office. I’m sure that she writes just wonderful reports for Wolseley’s management. I’m sure she goes to conferences and delivers though provoking speeches. I’m sure that she has a very nice, comfortable life. Oh, she also has an op-ed on the Insight Page today where she suggests that: “This is a call to grow the representation of women in skilled trades.” And why? She laments the fact that: “According to a survey done by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, only two per cent of 15-year-old female students indicated that they were planning to pursue a career in skilled trades. We have to first ask why, and then ask what can we do that will actually make a difference?” I assume she wrote this from a big comfy chair in her nicely decorated office.

Both of the Letters to the Editor are great today. *cough* Lee Coulman of Elmira wonders why the government isn’t borrowing and spending more to promote something called the J3068 plug that “…has the capability to provide more than three times more power than the J1772. This will unlock our apartment buildings, commercial properties for efficient, inexpensive charging” for electric vehicles. Or something… And Russell Scott of Kitchener whines about our “first-past-the-post dysfunctional voting system”. He asks: “Is it not time we all push for a proportional electoral system where the government in power is represented by the percentage of popular votes?” Gee – I kinda remember a certain person running for Prime Minister who promised this very thing. What happened? Oh, he got elected back in 2015 and then told everyone he lied. Or something…

The formatting of the Bridge column today is a mess. The North hand only has 10 cards. Morons.

Quote of the Day: “I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.” Milton Friedman

The Editorial today talks about the recent articles in the Globe and Mail “…citing secret Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) documents, has reported that the Chinese government took deliberate steps to target specific ridings.” The GM report specifically mentions Chinese officials here in Canada, bussing Chinese students to a Liberal nomination meeting to make sure a specific person was the candidate for the riding. The Editorial suggests: “Getting answers will require making public secret intelligence that bureaucrats are no doubt loathe to disclose. We think the imperative to maintain faith in our electoral system and our democratic institutions trumps the secrecy argument. The goal should be to more fully disclose the interference seen in past elections, determine what actions are merited in response, and take steps to shore up the process to better protect future votes.” They want Trudeau to call a public inquiry into foreign interference in our past and potential future elections. Fairly good Editorial. On the other hand, Liberal Party hack Geoffrey Stevens, also on the Opinion Page talks about this issue and tells us: “On balance, I’ll go with much ado about nearly nothing.” *cough*

On the Insight Page today we have an op-ed column by David Clement and Colin Craig who completely express my views (that I’ve mentioned various times in this space) on the high and unnecessary cost of cartels within Canada’s various supply management systems. They specifically mention chicken, turkey, eggs, milk and other dairy products as well as airline fares and cell phone prices. Agreed!!!

Quote of the Day: “Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” Milton Friedman

The Front Page today has an article by Jeff Outhit and features Adrian Hoyte who teaches French at Chicopee Hills Public School in Kitchener. Hoyte tells us that “Everywhere I go, I’m the only teacher like me”. Well, I think that if Hoyte looks just a bit harder, he will find other teachers who are just as big a whiner as he is.

On the Editorial Page, Craig Wallace talks about President Jimmy Carter and the fact that at age 98, he has just gone into hospice care. As unfortunate as this is, Wallace tries to rewrite modern history when he suggests that: “The evidence shows he was anything but [a weak, unsuccessful president].” After talking about the Camp David Accords and arming of future Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, Wallace conveniently forgets that Carter brought down the Shah of Iran and that installed the brutal, theocratic government of Ruhollah Khomeini, and the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979. He suggests that allowing the Shah into the U.S. for medical treatment precipitated the seizing of the American embassy in Tehran and the 52 hostages. Wow. Wallace also forgets the huge stagflation that Carter’s socialist policies inflicted on the American people including 14.7% mortgage interest rates.

Quote of the Day: “The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.” Milton Friedman

Have I ever mentioned what a complete ass Graeme Mackay is? Yes I have. And today’s Editorial Cartoon is one of the reasons I feel this way. Way out of bounds, even for him.

Quote of the Day: “Well first of all, tell me: Is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course, none of us are greedy, it’s only the other fellow who’s greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way. In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you’re talking about, the only cases in recorded history, are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you want to know where the masses are worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear, that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by the free-enterprise system.” Milton Friedman

After 250 quotes from the great Thomas Sowell, I think it’s time to move on to another two of my heroes – Milton and Rose Friedman. This rather long quote from him perfectly sums up his case for the free-enterprise system. Enjoy.

There used to be a regular (but not too regular) feature on Page A2 of TheRecord called “Corrections”. It obviously pointed out problems with past articles and properly and promptly correctly them. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the correction to the fact that the Sudoku on Page A2 from Saturday was is an exact duplicate of the Sudoku on Page A2 from Friday. Either the Editors at TheRecord missed this obvious mistake or they just don’t care. Useless.

Quote of the Day: “There are few things more dishonorable than misleading the young.” Thomas Sowell

Last Thursday 31 January 2023, I mentioned that TheRecord re-printed an article by Tara Deschamps of the Canadian Press from the previous Saturday. Today, the Sudoku on Page A2 is an exact duplicate of the Sudoku on Page A2 from yesterday. Are a group of children now running Layout? Idiots.

My love/hate relationship with Luisa D’Amato continues because today she has an op-ed on the Front Page that is absolutely spot on – I loved it. She talks about the brutal “Last-minute chaos served no one, as councillors tried to influence budget” meeting this week regarding the Regional Budget. When I read the rather detailed description of the 12(?) hour council meeting, all I could think about was the stupid grandstanding by a morons who pretend to lead our Region. She tells us that: “Waterloo regional councillors had spent weeks focusing on the $1.9billion budget in front of them. They’d listened to countless citizens and asked careful questions about how the impact on local property taxes could be lessened, while still funding important services. But then, during one final marathon meeting on Wednesday, these same elected officials engaged in what I can only describe as a describe as a frantic, 11th-hour series of smash-and-grab attempts to cut costs, move money around, add revenue, or spend more. It seemed chaotic.” This is an understatement. Great column by D’Amato. Everyone should read it and remember the fools who embarrassed the Region.

Navneet Alang and his TorStar masters have been at war with “Big Tech” for some time now. The first time I wrote about Alang’s ongoing rants was way back on Monday 23 November 2020. In his op-ed in TheRecord that day, he suggested that a “publicly funded” (read: government) take over email, calendaring – “albeit with strict legal limits around privacy”, of course. He is an idiot. Alang starts out his op-ed on Page A15 today by asking: “How do you know when a company has become too powerful? If you were a policy wonk, you might look for signs of a monopoly. An economist could look at market share, or perhaps runaway profits.” Gee Navneet – just what do you think that TorStar has been doing for the last 30 years? Looking at the Metroland Media Group website, I count 92 newspapers, both digital and home delivery that they own. Monopoly? I guess Alang put on his TorStar blinders before he wrote this article. I could go through the rest of his column, but why? Just search for his name on this website and you can see all of my comments and line by line analysis of his op-eds. Total nonsense.

Quote of the Day: “Facts do not speak for themselves. They speak for or against competing theories. Facts divorced from theories or visions are mere isolated curiosities.” Thomas Sowell

On the Front Page today, Liz Monteiro tells us about the $1.9 Billion Regional Budget and shares some insights on how council members voted. Good summary. And on Page A4, she lists the major areas where this $1.9 Billion is going. What struck me was the vast amount of money spent on just a few line items. For example, $163 Million is going for housing and homelessness initiatives; and $240 Million for transit; and $36 Million on climate change initiatives. Since there are about 635,000 in the Region, this means that for every man, woman and child, $257 was spent on housing people and a whopping $378 was spent on transit like the $1.5 Billion Ion boondoggle. Pathetic. This is how Waterloo Region is fast becoming tax and spend Toronto. Brutal.

Also on the Front Page, I see that after spending $163 Million for housing and homelessness initiatives, the tent city at Weber and Victoria Streets has a rat problem. Why? Can one of the reasons be that if you live in a tent on land you don’t own, you really don’t care about the environment around you? Just asking…

Interesting Editorial on the Opinion Page today where the writers criticize Trudeau for his lame response to Chinese interference in the 2021 election. Good for them. Interesting comment: “…that China has been meddling in a host of indirect ways designed to swing public opinion in its favour and affect the outcome in some specific places. Oh, and that are often illegal to boot. To that the government has offered no convincing reply. On the contrary, it seems remarkably complacent about the latest information, contained in internal documents prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and reported by the Globe and Mail.” Worrisome.

Also on the Opinion Page today, Susan Delacourt has an article on how Trudeau is attempting to use the horrible spectre of the ghost of Donald Trump being manifest as Pierre Poilievre. Good column, I guess. At least she didn’t slag Poilievre too badly.

It’s no secret that Pierre Poilievre has mentioned many times that as Prime Minister, he will defund the CBC saving the taxpayers of Canada around $1.5 Billion a year. Why? As he has stated, he doesn’t believe that Canada should own a broadcasting company that competes with other private broadcasters. Of course, the CBC being a crown corporation is completely inept and all ratings show this. Except for sporting events (which other networks can easily produce), CBC programs are almost never in the top 25 shows in Canada. Week after week, reruns of The Big Bang Theory and Seinfeld destroy “original” programming on the CBC. No one in Canada except for a dozen of so households watch this pathetic excuse for a network. All you have to do is to tune into a few minutes of any Rosemary Barton Live program to understand why this is true. So defunding them seems completely reasonable to me. Of course, knowing that their jobs are on the line, every last CBC “journalist” has taken a very negative stance towards Conservatives in general and Poilievre specifically. Naturally, Poilievre hasn’t been too kind to CBC reporters and is currently not taking questions from them. And why should he? There are many real journalists in Canada that he doesn’t need to deal with the gotcha questions from the CBC. Robin Sears on the Opinion Page today, clearly doesn’t like this approach by Poilievre. He tells us that “…universal tool of demagogues is to demonize and threaten journalists”. He suggests that: “This is a very dark hole that Poilievre is taking his party down. Threats and even attacks on journalists are on the rise in many countries. Mexico set up special protection for some famous journalists as a result of its epidemic of murdered reporters.” Wow – not taking questions from a CBC reporter is somehow the first step to “murdered reporters”, I guess. Who knew? But Sears has a very interesting but quite unintentional statement when he says: “Choosing which news organizations to grant exclusives to, or which reporters to grant special access to, is a time-honoured tool of governments attempting to ensure their spin on issues receives wide and favourable coverage. Banning reporters or attempting to create your own lapdog media organizations is practically unheard of in Canada.” Pardon??? Didn’t Susan Delacourt brag a few weeks back about her exclusive interviews with Trudeau? And didn’t Trudeau dump $600 Million of borrowed taxpayers money to some favoured newspaper chains? And isn’t Bill C-18 just simple blackmail that benefits favoured newspaper chains? Maybe this is the real reason that I can’t find one favourable op-ed, Editorial or Editorial Cartoon from a TorStar controlled paper that is even neutral in its treatment of Pierre Poilievre.

On the Insights Page today, when I read the headline: “Our collective insanity on climate change continues” I thought – finally, someone with an ounce of sense about how our governments are attempting to bankrupt and drive us back to the 17th century with this Climate Change junk science. But no, the op-ed is by Wayne Poole. Standard Chicken Little stuff from Mr. Poole. But his second last sentence in his drivel was interesting: “We seem to be immune to the warnings and exhortations of our climate scientists as we continue to burn fossil fuels, watch greenhouse gas levels and temperatures climb, experience worsening droughts and floods, food shortages and the swelling ranks of climate refugees.” Really? So we are experiencing “worsening droughts and floods [and] food shortages” are we? Nonsense. My friend Mr. Google tells me that this paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022169415008744 states that: “No significant precipitation change from 1850 to present.” And this paper here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9588423/ tells us that: “There is a ‘statistically significant decline of the percentage of land area affected by drought conditions’ based on rainfall measures from 1950–2020” or in other words, less drought!!! And I’m not going to go through the thousands of articles that contradict Poole’s belief that there are “food shortages”, but if you want, just drop over to: https://www.humanprogress.org/topic/food-hunger/ and read a couple of hundred of them… Why does TheRecord publish such trash? Yes, it’s an op-ed, but still…

Quote of the Day: “One of the painful signs of years of dumbed-down education is how many people are unable to make a coherent argument. They can vent their emotions, question other people’s motives, make bold assertions, repeat slogans – anything except reason.” Thomas Sowell

Luisa D’Amato has a Front Page(!) article on my trumpet player leaving the K-W Symphony. Wow – I thought that puff pieces like this were always Joel Rubinoff’s domain. D’Amato’s articles recently have taken on a Rubinoff slant – and that’s not good.

On Page A4, I noticed this little gem: “Ion system has trouble coping with recent icy winter weather”. Ah yes, the $1.5 Billion boondoggle has an issue because: “Freezing rain or the threat of freezing rain is enough to derail the train service.” Speechless…

Quote of the Day: “The prevention of competition is essential to exploitation.” Thomas Sowell

On the Front Page today, Liz Monteiro gives us a breakdown of the upcoming Regional Budget vote. Best summary in the article is by Michael Harris when is said: “…the debate on the police budget is an ‘ideological one between those that simply want to defund the police’ and those who do not. ‘When four bad guys are smashing the cases at Raffi Jewellers in Waterloo, you gotta call 911 … When gunshots are ringing out in your neighbourhood, you’re calling 911,’ he said.“ Bingo.

On the Insight Page today, Cathy Taylor the Executive Director of the Ontario Nonprofit Network has an op-ed where she argues that non-profit model is best for Ontario’s healthcare system. She claims that: “But Ontarians agree overwhelmingly that we need to put people before profits, especially where health care is concerned. The non-profit business model offers just that, and it’s time our governments invest in it.” I assume that Ms Taylor is in excellent health and has never had to wait for 10 hours in an emergency room to be seen by a doctor. I assume that Ms Taylor has never had to wait for 2 or 3 year for hip or knee replacement surgery. I assume that Ms Taylor has never had blood work done since in my part (and also in her part, it seems) of the province, this very fast and efficient service is handled by the for-profit LifeLabs company. Dumb.